Inexpensive Car insurance – At what Liability Limit?

Before you try to decide what the right amount of coverage should be. You first need to understand what Automobile Liability Insurance covers. There are always two factors that make up liability coverage. There is bodily injury and property damage liability.

Bodily Injury liability includes the injury that are suffered due to on automobile accidents.

1. Initial aid

2. Medical expenses for bodily injury

3. Restitution for lost salary

4. Final expenses

5. Legal defense fees and/or bail bonds for anyone listed on your policy

Property damage liability makes the damage that is cause due to an automobile accident.

1. Homes, building, etc that receive structural damage

2. Repair or replacement costs for other stationary objects

3. Automobile damage or total loss compensation

So, you are probably thinking to yourself what coverage limits should I have? Minimum liability guidelines are set by each individual state, they are usually 15,000/30,000/15,000 worth of coverage. The reason there is 3 numbers instead of two is because body injury liability is usually set in split limits but you could request a single limit of coverage.

Split Limit coverage: Limits are split into two for bodily injury coverage and then there is a separate coverage for property damage. If you take the example from above $15,000/$30,000 coverage, the $15,000 represents the total amount of bodily injury coverage that will be paid out to any one person during an accident. The $30,000 represents the total amount of bodily injury coverage that will be paid out for the entire accident. If you had a single limit of coverage it would include a maximum to be paid out but no individual maximum and it could be divided however needed.

Property Damage coverage is always the last number which is represented by $15,000 in the example above.

You have probably realized the disadvantage of carrying stat minimum limits 15,000/30,000/15,000. With the price of cars rising and the already high costs of property around the country it makes sense to have more than the 15,000 for property damage. With medical expenses at there highest ever it only makes sense to raise your bodily injury limits as well.

The most common amount of coverage around the country is split limit of 100,000/300,000/50,000 but you might want to consider even higher limits. The cost to raise liability from 15,000/30,000/15,000 to 100,000/300,000/100,000 or even higher shouldn’t cost more than a couple of hundreds of dollars per year. I’ll personally spend a little more now to save thousands later just in case I was sued for expenses costing more than my coverage limits.